Tie plate



W. SCHWIER July 22, 1930.

T11: PLATE Filed March 18, 1929 Patented July 22, 1930 UNITED STATES WILLIAM SCHW IER, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN TIE PLATE Application filed March 18, 1929. Serial No. 348,006.

This invention aims to provide a tie plate which will hold a railroad rail against creeping, running, turning over, and side thrust, the construction being such that the operator may be assured absolutely that the rail will lie precisely where it is placed, under any and all conditions of service, and regardless of the state of the road bed.

It is within the province of the disclosure 1 to improve generally and; to enhance the utility of devices of that sort to which the invention appertains.

WVith the above and other objects in view which will appear as the description prooeeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein described, may be made within the scope or what is claimed, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 shows in top plan, a device constructed in accordance with the invention, supported on a tie, and carrying a rail;

Figure 2 is a section on the line 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a section on the line 33 of 39 Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a horizontal section disclosing a modification.

The numeral 1 marks a tie, and at 2 there is shown a rail, including a base flange 3 resting on the metal tie plate 4 which forms the subject matter of this invention. The tie plate 4 is supplied on its bottom with a depending annular rib 5, seated in the tie 1 and of V-shape in cross-section. The plate 4 rests on the tie 1. V

The tie plate 4 comprises cooperating members 6 and 7 located in the same plane, the rib 5 being disposed partly on the member 6 and partly on the member 7, as Figure 1 discloses. In the inner edge of the member 7 there is a notch or seat 9, receiving a tongue 8 which is bevelled on its upper and lower sides as shown at 10, so as to avoid danger of breaking by reason of the blow produced When the wheels of rolling stock pass along the rail 2. The tongue 8 is rounded at its end and bears at its end, as shown at 21, against the member 7 of the tie plate, Within the seat 9. Referring to the places where the numeral 22 is applied in Figure 1, there is shown a small space on each side of the tongue 8, within the seat 9. The numeral 23 directs attention to the fact that there is a little space between the inner edges of themember 6 and 7 of the tie plate 4. The utility of the construction shown at 21-2223 will be made manifest hereinafter.

Rail-holding devices, such as angle brackets 11, are arranged on the tie plate 4 diagonally with respect to each other, ,there'being one bracket on each of the members 6 and 7 of the tie plate. Each bracket 11 includes an upstanding body 12 supplied with an inwardly projecting head 14. The heads 14 overlap the flange 3 at opposite sides of the rail 2, and thus the rail is held against moving transversely and against overturning sidewise.

In the ends of the members 6 and 7 that carry the brackets 11, there are holes 24 for spikes 18 which go down into thetie 1. The heads 17 of the spikes 16 engage the upper surface of the members 6 and 7 of the tie plate 4, but not the flange 3 of the rail 2. The members 6 and 7 are provided adjacent to the brackets 14 with holes 15 through which spikes 16 extend down into the tie 1. The heads 19 of the spikes 18 overlap the flange 8' of the rail 2.

The tongue 8 and the seat 9 prevent the members 6 and 7 from having straight line shifting movement with respect to each other, crosswise of the rail 2. Owing to the fact that the rib 5 is of annular form, the tie plate 4 will not move either lengthwise of the rail 2, or crosswise of the rail. The tongue 8 of the member 6 is fulcrumed at 21 in the base of the seat 9, and because of the space at 22 and at 23, and since the rib 5 is in the form of a circle, the members 6 and 7 can have a slight relative swinging or rotary movement with respect to each other, about'a point where the tongue 8- bears (at 21) on the seat 9, the distance between the said point and the center 25 of the circle represented by the rib 5 being so small that, considering the nature of the invention, that distance is of no particular consequence, it being a matter of common knowledge that a tie plate is not made, and need not be made, with micrometrie nicety.

Because the plates or members 6 and 7 can have the aforesaid relative tilting movement, the strain is brought on all of the spikes 16 and 18 at once. This is an important feature and prevents the spikes from taking the strain one at a time, and becoming loose, one at a time, in their respective holes.

In Figure 4 of the drawings, parts hereinbefore described have been designated by numerals previously used, with the suiiix a? The modification consists in providing the body 12 of the bracket 11 on its inner surface with V-shaped ribs or teeth which, engaging the edge of the flange of the rail, tending to prevent creeping of the rail.

I claim:

1. A tie plate comprising cooperating members, one of which is provided on its inner edge with a single seat which opens in a substantially horizontal direction when the tie plate is in use, the other of said cooperating members being provided on its inner edge with a single tongue which outstands in a substantially horizontal direction when the tie plate is in use, the tongue being received in the seat, the seat and the tongue coacting to form a fulcrum on which said cooperating members may have limited swinging movement with respect to each other in a substantially horizontal plane when the tie plate is in use.

2. A tie plate comprising cooperating members, one of which is provided on its inner edge with a single seat which opens in a substantially horizontal direction when the tie plate is in use, the other of said cooperating members being provided on its inner edge with a single tongue which outstands in a substantially horizontal direction when the tie plate is in use, the tongue being received in the seat, the seat and the tongue coacting to form a fulcrum on which said cooperating members may have limited swinging movement with respect to each other in a substantially horizontal plane when the tie plate is in use, the tie plate being provided on its bottom with a single annular tie-engaging rib located partly on one of said cooperating members and partly on the other, the geometrical center of the rib being located near enough to said fulcrum so that when the aforesaid limited swinging movement takes place, the rib can have circumferential movement in a tie without creating any consequential crushing of the constitutent material of the tie in a substantiallly horizontal direction.

3. A tie plate comprising cooperating members, one of which is provided on its inner edge with a single seat which opens in a substantially horizontal direction when the tie plate is in use, the other of said cooperat ing members being provided on its inner edge with a single tongue which outstands in a substantially horizontal direction when the tie plate is in use, the tongue being received in the seat, the seat and the tongue coacting to form a fulcrum on which said cooperating members may have limited swinging movement with respect to each other in a substantially horizontal plane when the tie plate is in use, the plate being provided near to two of its diagonally opposite corners with brackets so shaped as to overhang a rail, and being provided near to its two remaining diagonally opposite corners with spike holes so located that the head of a spike therein will overhang a rail engaged with the brackets. a

A tie plate comprising cooperating member-s, one of which is provided on its innor edge with a single seat which opens in a substantially horizontal direction when the tie plate is in use, the other of said cooperating members being provided on its inner edge with a single tongue which outstands in a substantially horizontal direction when the tie plate is in use, the tongue being received in the seat, the seat and the tongue coa-cting to form a fulcrum on which said cooperating members may have limited swinging movement with respect to each other in a sul stantially horizontal plane when the tie plate is in use, the free end of the tongue being spaced from the upper surface of the plate to prevent the free end of the tongue from being battered bya rail on the tie plate.

5. A tie plate comprising cooperating members and rail-holding means associated therewith, said members being located in a common plane and being supplied with elements which are interengaged to limit relative movement between said members in a substantially horizontal direction when the tie plate is in use, said elements coa-cting to afford a fulcrum on which said members may have limited swinging movement with respect to each other in a substantially horizontal plane when the tie plate is in use said members being extended outwardly in opposite directions beyond the rail-holding means.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto afiixed my signature.

- WILLIAM SCI-IVVIER. 

